Indonesia’s bid for 2022 World Cup in question

Posted Tuesday, February 09, 2010 by AP

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP)—Indonesia’s bid to host the 2022 football World Cup grew increasingly uncertain Tuesday as the deadline for the country’s government to file a letter of support for the bid loomed.

Prospective hosts must file a letter by Tuesday showing government support for the bids.

Minister of Youth and Sport Andi Mallarangeng was quoted by the Jakarta Globe newspaper Tuesday saying that the Indonesian Football Association (PSSI) has to first focus on improving the standard of football in the country.

“We have to pull ourselves to the top of the Southeast Asian region again, then we’ll have to be one of Asia’s best. After that, we can talk about the World Cup,” Mallarangeng told the paper.

Mallarangeng declined to answer when asked if that meant the government would not support the bid.

Calls to Mallarangeng were not immediately returned Tuesday.

Joseph Tortulis, committee chairman of bidding for PSSI, said it had not withdrawn its bid, but inferred from Mallarangeng’s comments that the government would not be issuing the letter of support.

“We understand that the government has said bidding for the (2022) World Cup host is not a priority, and asked PSSI to improve its performance first,” Tortulis said. “If that is the case, then we can’t do anything other than just wait and see what FIFA will do.”